Things I have learned: Don't try to picnic at the dog park

Today’s post would be aptly described with a side-by-side picture of “what I envisioned” and “what actually happened” … however what happened was such a disaster we didn’t have time to take a picture!

Let me paint you a picture…

We were thinking how nice it would be to go to the beach and eat dinner while watching the sunset, and that we should take the dog. Which of course necessitated going to “the dog beach”.

 

It'll be nice we thought, it isn't summer yet, it shouldn't be too busy...

The reality was that every time we opened the chicken salad, dogs came out of nowhere stretching their noses as close as they could get to the foods… it was chaotic to say the least.

The best one by far was a Beagle named Ares, he snuffled, circled, and sat down in front of the Ninja… did all his tricks and then barked a distinct “C’mon!” when he didn’t get a treat as his owner called him away :)

To be fair, we *were* at the dog beach... 

Next time we will eat at the park *then* go to the dog beach!

"Quit while you're ahead" they say...

There are expressions that are as much a part of the language as the words it is made of, and yet we do not appreciate them for the wisdom they contain until we fully understand them... at which point it's too late.

I had an incredibly productive weekend, I got a veritable $#!-tonne of stuff done upstairs but the feeling of accomplishment was negated in the space between thoughts. That moment when you get the sinking feeling that something is most likely about to go horribly wrong, when I dropped... *inhale*... and exploded *sigh* one of those stupid twisty cfl lightbulbs at the very top of the stairs *rolls eyes* of course it was at the top of the stairs.

Theeennnn I dropped the LED light bulb I was replacing it with... and killed that one as well (it didn't break... it just doesn't work now! - go figure)

So the price for trying to do *justonemorething* before bed was at least a half an hour of clean up, and a dark tarnish on the previously glowing golden accomplishment of having replaced the bathroom light fixture, moved the bathroom light fixture into the walk in closet, finishing painting the walk in closet, removing all carpet from said walk in closet AND the final remaining piece from my sports closet which was no small task as both closets had to be completely emptied first... and then I put everything back before anyone got home!

*sigh*

One more drop in the Ocean

Yesterday the ocean kicked my ass... and I cried a little, both in it, aaaaaaand again when I got out...

I just got so frustrated... hell I'm still frustrated!

Like confidence crushing frustrated like "maybe I just can't do this..." and "maybe I should just give up and go in" and "maybe I really didn't use to pick things up naturally, maybe that was just everyone being nice" *sigh* Pairing all that with my natural stubbornness I probably stayed out longer than absolutely necessary before I decided that I really was tired nay exhausted, and that the possibility of getting up  (remote as it had been when I started) was quickly diminishing to a big fat ZERO.

For something that I've done before, and enjoyed up in Tofino... It sure sucks not being able to get up when I can see other people getting up down here, and then on top of that getting stuck in the wave crush zone on the way out so that by the time a nice wave comes in again you're too tired to get up...

Or it flips you over, and rips your board out of your hands... and tugs on your board leash...

Or sucks you under and tumbles you a little bit just for fun... and tugs on your board leash again...

Or it chucks you off face first and forcibly rinses your brain out through your nostrils...

Or gets you all excited like you might actually do it this time, and then just rolls on by...

I'm pretty sure the Ocean was toying with me yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I have salt water in my brain... because I definitely have sand in my ears.


On a lighter note, the sunset was gorgeous... as was the bronzed lifeguard that ran up the pier and jumped off to assist a kite boarder that had managed to get himself tangled up...

Happy Birthday Mama!

My best friend's grandmother is turning 100 this year, or at least they think she is, record-keeping being what it was in the Philippines back in her day, well that and while visiting relatives she found out she was actually four years older than she thought she was...

They put a call out for videos and pictures of everyone "Doing something cool and wishing Mama a happy birthday" This is our submission:

To elaborate a little, we probably waited in line for over two hours, as due to the limited time left to submit we only had one shot at this!

Luckily we were placed in front, and as we waited for the final checks they ran through the plan again.  Ok, it's going to turn right, right, right, right, and then left... So basically when it changes direction, you need to lean as far forward as you can and smile because that's where it takes the picture.

Ok, I got it, I can do that.

We were whizzing through the ride, turning, turning, turning always to the right... the new things they've added for the 60th makeover are amazing and totally capture my imagination, I really do feel like I'm blasting through space!

All of a sudden there's a commotion in front of me, as the Ninja unfurls the banner.  What's this?! We haven't turned yet I think, as her cousin yells "It isn't tiiiime yeeeeet!!!"

It sounded like an angry tarp on the highway beating itself to death, as she tried to stretch it across to her cousin... *pause for blinding insight* she realized there were two things we didn't take into account: the wind factor and that in order to do this she wouldn't be hanging on to anything... *unpause* She caught air on the next right turn where it then acted as a drag chute and pulled her all the way to the left, I thought for a moment I was going to have to grab her leg on the way by!

Somehow she manged to miraculously get it back under control without ripping it in half, her cousin meanwhile was dealing with an ear malfunction, I was laughing uncontrollably... and that's about where this picture was taken ;)

Happy Birthday Mama!

Stand back! We are going to attempt the horizontal loop

I learned how to drive the Unimog this weekend *grins*

This Sunday just after checking in on the morning net Aaren and I got to thinking that we should get his horizontal loop up before the snow flies... and with summer slipping through our fingers, we got the bright idea that we should do it *right now*.

I'm sure we did at least half of the things on the list of "Things *not* to do when putting up a horizontal loop antenna" but I'd like to think we learned a few things along the way... and we had some fun.

Aaren on the Mog, next to his existing tower

Now two of the corners of the loop are going to be held up by his antenna tower, and his new wooden mast... the other two corners are going to be held up by willow trees.  That's the part where I come in, he let me back and forth the Mog all over the yard topark it at the base of the willow tree, as a reward for what was to follow...

We used a ladder *on top* of the Mog to get half way up the 40 foot height he was hoping to get his loop up to... I know right, safety first. Shhhh! we wont talk about the clippers and chainsaw I used just so that I could get up *into* the tree ;)

The Unimog ladder extension

 The first tree we did was tough, there was a 'Y' section that I needed to be standing in, but it didn't really have any branches to get up to it. I don't honestly know how I got up there (or down), only that it involved some scootching, and as I sat there with my shin wedged between the bark I distinctly remember thinking

"Yeap, definitely should've put on pants!"

After getting the pulley attached, and the rope that would pull the loop tight, we pulled it up and down and through a few times just to make sure the pulley worked get everything where it should have been.

The second tree was much quicker, other than the rope toss which we realized should have gone *over* the G5-RV... and you thought we were almost done ;)

Nope, those aren't my shoes either... figured big shoes were safer than flip flops ;)

"You would have some sexy legs if it weren't for all those scars!" ~Mich

It was pretty cool when we were done, although unfortunately next to impossible to get a decent picture of... I have a little bit of tree rash to show for it, and I had bark in places that no normal human being should have bark... Ever. But it just goes to show... I still got it *snaps*

The trouble with "Sam will "

... Is that I usually do *rueful look*

Warning: This post contains images of a graphic nature *hehe* but seriously if you don't like bruises, skip this post cause I've got a doozy of one, and it's all documented ;)

It all began with Mitts' having the most valid reason for downright *refusing* to ride black diamonds (she's a doctor in specializationing), even if she is a wayyyy better rider than I am... but with his new bike lighting his shorts on fire her husband wanted nothing more than to try them on for size.

"Sam will ride them with you" she assured him, knowing me entirely too well... The moment those words are uttered I might as well give in. Tales of the ride over dinner and I can already feel the wind on my face and the adrenalin in my veins. I'm committed, or at least I should have been *wicked grin*

I meet Adam up there, both of us quickly gearing up in the parking lot eager to get on the hill.  The first run down was brutal, my balance was weird and every jump I took was half a twitch away from a garage sale... I was thinking maybe this wasn't the best idea *tugs collar* buuuuuuuuut the first big ride of every season starts out like this for me... so I just gotta do it and get through it.


And the texting begins... we try to keep Mitts informed of everything she's missing out on *haha*. Riiiiight...

The second run down, was half a lifetime better as my scattered centered of gravity regrouped itself and solidified into my core. My rental bike and I got over our first date jitters and awkwardness and figured out how to hold hands... and I started to relax, and remember how awesome riding is.

Dude! I just about forgot the craziest part of the day!!

This one run down Rockstar we had just pulled out onto the fire access road for a break, when we saw a black bear about 35' down the road!!! So cool, but I didn't need any further convincing that it was time to go when he started ambling towards us.

The riding was epic, I took drops I wasn't planning to... and landed them! We tore it up, refueled with jellybellys and a fabulous cooler lunch, then started up all over again *grins*

Nearing the end of the day we decided on one last hard technical ride, and then we would take it easy...

Well I'm not quite sure *what* exactly happened, but one second I was navigating the rocks and roots relatively well and the next I was airborn executing a beautiful somersault, or at least it was beautiful until a tree stump rudely interrupted my thigh screaming "CHARLIE HORSE!!!" and then ran away laughing...

As I limped down the mountain, Mitts' husband had just started walking back up the trail to see if he needed to pick up my pieces... we took a moment to assess, and there was barely a scratch!

If you squint a little you can just see it thinking about bruising...

Are you kidding me?!?! *groans* it hurts soooo muuuuuuch!

"Lets go down to the car put an ice pack on it, give you some drugs and then re-asses" he says. Fabulous idea. So I coast down to the parking lot rolling over everything and not taking any jumps or drops of course *rolls eyes*

A tylenol-ibuprofen cocktail, an asprin rub and I'm sitting on the ground in the parking lot with an ice pack on it while Adam goes for a pee... comes back and says "So?"

me: I'm done dude *shakes head*, I can barely stand up and I can feel it stiffening up already :(

Even the drive home sucked, I was all "Noooooooooo don't make me shiiiiiift!" *shakes fist* Aaarrrrrg one of the few downsides to driving stick *scowls*

Saturday Evening - Still doesn't even look close to how bad as it feels... the muscle is definitely stiff and sore

Starting to show its true colours

Sunday Evening - Nearly said a bad word when a certain basset hound jumped up into my lap with one foot squarely in the middle of my owsa.

Stairs suck. 

I look pathetic trying to get up and down them.

Tues Morning - Things are feeling a little bit better... but they certainly don't look it *uhg*

Tues Evening - Yep, it still looks terrible...

Wed - Stairs aren't quite so bad, thank goodness...

...and you thought it looked bad yesterday

Thurs - I can finally walk up and down stairs, and I think whatever muscle was supporting everything finally relaxed or died... I can feel my quad jiggle a little when I'm walking...

That's a good thing right?!?

...please describe gangrene again? *tugs collar*

Fri - I think its... yep its lightening up, and its a little bit itchy, definitely getting better :)

Sat - A week later, and it still looks kinda gross... See! I told you it hurt even though it didn't look like it should :p

Nothing really that interesting happening with it, but just for the sake of bringing you completely up to date... here you go...

 Tuesday Evening - See just about all gone! It still feels kinda weird, I think it's retaining some fluids... and the underlying muscle still hates me. Now its time to start using it again, anybody up for some downhill this weekend?

I'm just kidding... :p

Just *do* it! Full training - Part "The Bike/Run"

We stagger out of the water... "dash" up to the car, and discover just how hard it is to undo let alone *remove* your wetsuit with cold fingers.

Precious transition minutes of fumbling later, and we both manage to get into our bike gear without flashing the mobs on the beach that are prudently staying out of the water... and discover our second "problem". How to put on socks and runners without the sand that has liberally applied itself all over our feet and between our toes.

I don't care how fast your transition is, if you have sand in your shoes I'm *pretty sure* you're going to wear your feet down to a leg nub! A squirty bottle of water and a towel off later we're back in business. Note to self for race day: extra rinse off water.

We joke about how great it is going to be on race day not having to pull two bikes out of the back of The Fit... when m&m asks the question that would spark the motto for the rest of this adventure "Where did you put your wetsuit?" to which I respond...

"In the transition area..." *smiles*

The bike was beautiful, we did a half hour subset of it and it felt pretty good... the transition, nothing of note... and then the run.

The run started out slowly, so slowly I thought that my legs had been cast from concrete and liquid lead poured through my veins... Other than that and the feeling that I had to pee *soooo badly* (which I didn't) it was completely uninteresting until we both finally admitted to being starving.  Apparently you need more than a six-inch sub from Subway to fuel a triathlon.

A quick dip in the lake *after* the bike/run sans wetsuit felt absolutely AMAZING!!! Why don't they do things in that order?!?! I'm telling you, it would be sooooo much better...

After congratulating ourselves on our epic "full transition training" we ducked over to the Blue Heron for dinner, and proceeded to eat an entire plate of calamari... two steak sandwiches with fries... and a full order of spinach salad washed down with an entire pitcher of water and a couple iced teas and cokes.

That ought to hold us till Sunday ;)

Just *do* it! Full training - Part "The Swim"

Today, 3 days before...

*ahem* The Triathlon

We finally did a little bit of everything training... including transitions. Alright, basically we sucked it up and did the lake swim.

Trying to get organized at lunch was a gong show, but we managed... you sure need a lot of stuff for this event!

Three minutes from the lake, and I'm psyching myself up for how cold I think the swim is going to be. Couple deep breaths... a little cajoling, c'mon you're Canadian what's a little cold water with a wet suit on? You've swum in the Pacific on boxing day!

It was perfect, we were able to park right on the beach, suit up... give each other that little bit of moral co-motivation, co-inspiration and uh a couple other words that end in 'ation'... and we were doing *it*.

Second step into the lake, and it is feeling fairly frigid... then it hit my wetsuit at mid-thigh and it wasn't nearly so bad. A few more steps and my wetsuit that I've owned since highschool is letting cold water in at the seams... I can feel it very distinctly. Every single stitch hole.

One last look at each other, with the taunt "Well? Are we going to swim or not?!?" and I dive in...

I'm pretty sure that my lungs come with very specific instructions, and that they say "Do not immerse in cold water. Ever." But they've long since been lost, and this wasn't cold water that was sneaking in the holes in my wetsuit, this was zillions of tiny frozen needles that were attacking me... aggressively.

I'm pretty sure my lungs are the biggest wusses ever, because they shrunk at least three sizes trying to hide from that frigid water. My brain initiated an emergency shut down immediately regressed to glacial swimming instincts: Get in. Get out. With a little luck it's enough to rinse the soap off.

With my decreased lung and brain capacity, I started hyperventilating and broke into a sprint swim. For the endless 10 seconds it took me to regain control of my senses. I waited for Michelle to catch up, and then alternated between repressing the urge to hyperventilate, and mediating the fight between my desire to practice swimming normally and my brains trying to avoid a brain freeze by staying as far out of that frigid water as possible.

First swim? Epic fail.
Awesome? Not doing it for the first time on race day.

B-9... BINGO!!

I found some remote town in some state... somewhere in the US... and I think my cerebellum has fused, short circuiting the neutronzian reactor causing an emergency shutdown  which has forced an emergency discharge of legacy intelligence... I just forgot everything up to and including highschool.

*wheeeeee*

Ummm I don't think I'm doing this road trip planning thing properly *squints* I can't even see straight I've been looking at the map for so long...

Nooooooooo!

Somebody (yes that would be me) thought it would be a good idea (had my arm twisted) to play ball last night!

So I get on base... and took slightly more of a jump on the hit than I should have... because second base caught it, and I had to make an effort to get back to my bag. Which I accomplished with a large jump step/land in a slide position. Unfortunately I landed directly on the pin holding down first... and literally blew a moccasin..

My cleat proceeded to eat up the infield at an alarming hungry-hungry-hippo rate... *nom nom nom* and I had to shake it out every time I left the infield, just so we still had something to play on!

Short of players (hence the arm twisting) an inning later I was finally able to run to my car and fix it!

Man I love duct tape! ;)

It's a good thing too because I immediately got a home run and had to run all the way around the bases... which were further apart than they needed to be! I also got a solid double that *should* have been a home run, except it rolled under the fence... *whispers* don't tell anyone, but I was okay with not running the bases again ;)

*shhhh* I wouldn't normally tell anyone about the ball that I missed... except that I totally made up for it with my double footed jumping backflip roll catch! (which promptly made everyone forget about the one I missed  ;)

It was pretty cool if I do say so myself *buffs fingernails* ;)

My body doth subtly protest the antics of the previous evening... the white noise of stiffness. Not enough to take the good drugs, but just enough to remind me that winter is over... and it's time to go play outside!

From the Captain

Got away from Tonga - the passage out was an act of faith in the GPS.  The channel shows on the chart but you can't see the reefs that the chart shows - they're underwater about 1 m and extensive.  Islands you can see aren't shown - they're part of the reef, and what nav markers are shown on the shart may - or may not exist.  The route out is twisty but works.  Once more or less clear was motoring along and saw a whale do the full breach thing.  Something I've missed to date.  Impressive.  And to top off the day, I finally saw the green flash.

Made OK time the first day, winds were light.  Picked up the second day and made 105 nm which is about right.  Then this morning early the wind began to build.  Something woke me with the thought - 'don't like the sound of that, winds not high but should reef" - did, glad. Within a couple of hours the wind was hitting 40 and I was down to storm sails.  No big deal, boat handled it all like a lady and the only casualty was my hand of bananas.  They blew away.  They had just ripened, hanging from the radar arch.  Had in interesting peppery flavor.

Most of the day was spent blasting along, and late this afternoon things have settled some.  At least the rain stopped.  Forgot to mention the lightning.  Picture if you will, I'm putting in the second reef in the main and one of the reef point lines is tangled in a shroud about 12' above deck.  I had to use some webbing to complete the reef 200 mm short, tape the kitchen knife onto the book hook, cut the tankled line (piece of small stuff) which I managed without damage to sails, ropes, myself etc. despite the tossing about.  Completed the reef.  While I'm clinging to the aluminum mast semit standing on the winch, there is a huge flash of lightning in the sky - I'm thinking - this is probably not healthy but what can I do?  Finished the job.

So, just now, the wind is down some, doing 5+ k rolling away.  about 200 or so nm out, 900 to go.

Take care
Dad
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At 11/10/2011 7:28 PM (utc) our position was 22°26.10'S 176°00.45'W

That ball's been ThunderSTRUCK!

It was such a crazy night, I zipped up to my friend's after work and helped her move a bed. Drove a kid to soccer, played pass with my football, grabbed my ball gear, did a great taekwondo workout where I "learned" my three new defensive moves.

By learned I mean I know what the moves are now, the movements though, looks more like a puppet with early onset Alzheimers and Parkinson's... there's a distinct pause as the thought of what I'm supposed to be doing twitches through each of the incorrect limbs before finally moving the right one. Like Data driving the star ship enterprise at light speed while being tazered.

After all that I called to see if ball had been cancelled and then hauled the mail through the pouring rain to get there on time because the answer was "Of course not! Get your #$(*& up here!". I'm so glad I did, I got a home run right over the right fielder, man it felt good! *grins*

Next up to bat was pretty decent too, I got on base... and was thrown out at two after a valiant attempt to beat out the throw from the second baseman.  Luckily I don't live at home anymore, because my Mother wouldn't have let me in the house like this... I probably would've had to strip down on the back porch, not that I can blame her really ;)

I totally felt like a little kid playing out in the thunder and rain... every five more minutes we got was sacred and special because I just couldn't shake the feeling that it was like at any moment my Mom was gonna call me in :)

Needed: Shin guards for everyday use

Okay I admit I was trying to bike *along* the curb and fell off and flipped my pedal and bruised my shin and ripped my other owie open again... so yeah bruised and bleeding on a 10 min ride, doesn't matter what I'm doing I'm an accident in progress ;)

An example of how *not* to do it

So last night at taekwondo I found myself at the front of the line... and no, it wasn't one of those instances where I was jumping up and down with my hand in the air going "Pick me! pick me!" It was more one of those "everyone form a line" and magically, everyone else receded into the background leaving me at the front, which normally would have been fine... but in this case at the end of the circuit we were supposed to do 3 jumping front kicks. The instructor demo'd it, I watched, nodded and thought to myself "jump and do a front kick... I can do both of those"...

Well I did my first go through the circuit, then a good short sprint across the mat... jumped and got *HUGE* air, and started my front kick. In the middle of I realized that kick was throwing my rotational balance off vertical and that things were not going as planned...

Next thing I knew I promptly bounce-landed on my left butt cheek in a rather abrupt manner, and the instructor was saying "ohmygoodnessareyouokay?"

Yes, yes I'm fine. I'm only crying on the inside. I just bruised my ego a little bit. Okay I lied, I bruised my ego a lot, it has just curled up into a ball and crawled into a hole... but that aside I'll be fine *pssshtt* what's a little bounce on a nice padded gym mat?

As I sauntered over to rejoin the end of the line to try it all over again all I wanted to do was check to make sure my butt didn't have a dent large enough to write off an SUV, but for the sake of what little remained of my pride and dignity, I didn't.

But you know what made up for it all? I totally nailed the flying side kick *snaps* that's right, mmmmhmmmm I did! I don't know if it actually looked as awesome as it felt and sounded... but I don't care, in my head it was Jackie Chan AWESOME!

Please don't have to sneeze... please?

I'm not sure who's bright idea it was to have a ball practice *before* wallyball playoffs because man am I stiff today... The first time swinging a bat since last season, and I should know better, I really should. There's really no excuse, this happens every year... I just don't have a 'warm up' swing... I start the season swinging for the fence.

It hurts to sneeze, it hurts to laugh... it hurts to shiver! My entire core and supporting muscles are all writing strongly worded letters to my governing committee questioning my sanity. But sitting here in my padded office chair I feel alive. Damage reports have all come back with negligible problems, nothing preventing the jump to light speed. It's just a not so gentle reminder that I did something this weekend, and I'm proud to say I earned every single one of those stiff muscles.

Spot the white girl

So I tried Zumba tonight, and I found it to be more of a grueling workout for my cerebellum than my muscles...

While everyone else was adding in the arm movements I was still trying to figure out which foot to step on. I most certainly did *not* make as far as which muscles to flex... and you have *got* to be kidding me, this model of woman does not move like that!

It was like the captain stepped off the bridge to take a leak and an overzealous junior officer assumed command "Kick that right leg!" "Shift left, strafe STRAFE!" "Wave those arms around people! Make it look like we know what we're doing!"

There was one pivot move in particular my junior officer couldn't coordinate the movements for until it was likened to a "throw to second base"... between that and a nice lady taking pity on me we almost got it sorted out before she switched moves again!

You would have had to be blindfolded not to be able to pick me out of the crowd tonight. Where's the new white girl? THERE SHE IS!

A few last night's ago...

Went for beer and wings last night with a friend of mine, and for whatever reason this always seems to be the time when we get onto the topic 'doing something with my hair'.

Generally she ends up cutting it, incurring minor war wounds. Last night we came up with the brilliant idea that we should do one of those perm-in-a-boxes from Walmart... I'm confident that my guardian angel was working double time last night, possibly with my friend's guardian angel because we couldn't find the right perm-in-a-box and instead settled for a streaking kit.

A few hours, and more product than I can name later I have a new do! *grins*

Note: It has been brought to my attention (thanks Mom ;) that my Dad has been scanning my blog postings and so far has come away with me dating a blind guy, and chaining him up under my bed... Should be interesting to hear what he comes away with from this one! *grins* (Sorry Dad it was too funny not to share, love you!)

What was I thinking?

Because I don't have enough going on in my life I agreed to go out on a blind date this weekend. So after moving in and unpacking a grand total of 6 bags, Rubbermaids and the assorted odds and ends I brought up with me... getting a new iPhone and transferring my contact from my old phone, which I've still only managed to add up to the 'F'... going to the Vipers hockey game... and fixing my cousin's wifis, I went out to Checkers Sunday night with a very nice young man named Chris.

Super crazy coolness, he's been through a hurricane! In other news he was a dive instructor in a previous life, while working the cruise lines but lake diving is boring so he hasn't been in a few years.

Oh and a side note: I really suck at pool. So for my friends who worry about that delicate male ego, especially on a first date... You don't have to worry anymore, I found something I don't have to let them win at *smug grin*

I realized when I got home that night that I had failed to both make plans to hitch a ride to work, and go grocery shopping. Walking to work isn't such a big deal, in fact I'd been planning to do that anyways, perhaps this was just my unconscious incentive to just hurry up and do it already.

Not having groceries though is a serious buffer overflow... segmentation fault: core dumped. I'm not sure how that slipped my mind... I mean really, whoever is in charge of that portion of things in my brain must have just fallen asleep on the keyboard. Even those little guys hit a point where even though they have all the eggs in the air, they can't keep 'em there, but really?!?! Did you have to drop the ball on that one?

What was I thinking???

I woke up this morning, and this little voice inside me sucked up all the oxygen in my lungs and yelled "WE SHOULD GO FOR A RUN!" I blame this little voice solely on my friend Mitts. Because this is not a normal little voice, normal little voices you can pause, think about it, and then dismiss the crazy idea... but no, so I geared up and off I went for a run.

Now this little island that we're on, has two bridges that meet... I ran to the bridges and then had a bit of a dilemma, off towards nowhere running along the highway... or in to town? Both were equally scary, what with there being nothing more than a line designating space for a pedestrian.

I looked at my watch, sucked it up, thought skinny and ran as fast as I could across the bridge. If I had been any closer to the edge I would have been running on top of the railing. I considered it briefly actually, I have pretty good balance... but the water was pretty shallow and I figured my chances were better with the cars.

Needless to say I survived my 30 minutes of a half-jog. It felt pretty good too... until Dad and I walked all over town looking for the damn paint store. *shakes fist* stupid girl didn't pick up on the fact that we were walking and sent us to a store we gave up on.

I swear Mitts... you'll be the death of me yet ;o)

Back to today!

Phew.

I've tried my best to more or less pick up where I left off and fill everything in, including the diesel clouded details of my earlier posting. I apologize profusely for the vagueness of that last post, I was under the sleep deprived impression that we would have wireless soon and I could clear up all the details. Little did I have any idea how long it would take me to articulate it all, with even the least bit of intelligence.

Thanks for reading, and thanks so much for all the support *smiles* you probably want to start way back here... and then skip through using the 'Newer Post' link at the bottom... Gah. Sorry 'bout that ;o)